What is the difference between the two?
The difference is reaching your ultimate goal vs not reaching it!
So to "Prepare to Succeed" means making sacrifices, withdrawing from events that don't fit into the overall scheme of things. This is where I am at and have been for the last few years, picking and choosing races to benefit my goals, changing focus whenever needed.
Building for the long term, not just the weekend has also been the goal. Having rough times on the training track but understanding what/how & why I am doing it makes it easier for me. It has been all about getting the goals ticked off. And on looking back, I am pretty sure that I have able to achieve these to date.
This can takes YEARS to achieve! Years of consistency, years of building up your training base to be able to dig deep into it when required knowing that you have plenty there to choose from.
The caption says, "If Rome wasn't built in a day, how long did it take?"
This is the same with endurance sports....How long can it take?
There are so many relevant factors to this question. What is your back round? How long you been in the sport? What is your history of injuries? These 3 amongst a list of so many more. It just takes time and as time ticks by you start to understand how long it takes.
I dug up an old Cairns Half Ironman from June 2000, which was the first 1/2 that I did. Some of the names that I see on the results list are still going today. I can say that these people definitely "Prepared to Succeed".
One guy who finished runner up on this day has gone one to become one of the greatest Ironman Athlete in recent times....Craig Alexander.
Other names that raced back then and to my knowledge are still competing well now are:
Rebekah Keat 1st Fem
The Grangers (Justin & Belinda 3rd Fem)
Rebekah Keat
Shane Reed
Chris Lee
John Hill (A/G'er)
Chris Hill won the race, Jason Metters 3rd & Rina Hill 2nd Fem
My whole point is that a base takes a long time to build, success doesn't happen straight away, and if you are patient with the right guidance you can get there in time.
For the record I snuck into 39th place outright (4hr 43min), qualified for Forster Ironman, but the thought of Ironman was way too daunting for me at 21y.o.
"Chase the Fail" is for all those people who expect results all the time, compare themselves to others and lose focus on what they want to achieve. Wanting/expecting to race all the time and achieve PB's or podiums although they might only be in the infancy of a training program. Not compromising to achieve the overall goal, changing their program to suit there wants not their overall goal. Having extended periods off during the year and only do the minimum required to get through the race.
I think you get my drift.
So next time you look at a race schedule, ask yourself....Which races are going to benefit my overall goal?
Now as far as personally, I have still been struggling with illness. Ironman Australia is becoming more of a no go, however after re-reading the above, I know that I am "Preparing to Succeed" so this doesn't worry me at all. I will still be up there supporting the boys!
The below picture says it all:
For Now...
X-Man
On this Great Day for Australians, I thought it very relevant to post the below pictures:
Lest we forget.
